Client Stories

John Earl Davis was born in Chicago in 1981 to a low-income family living in the inner city. At three years old, John became terribly ill and was hospitalized with severe lead poisoning. John survived, but even the best treatments for lead poisoning cannot remove all of the lead from a child’s body. Most people develop schizophrenia in their early 20s, but by five years old, John was hearing voices. His parents took him to…

Towards the end of April, 2015, DRW received a call from the family of Bryce, a young man with a cognitive disability. Bryce — at 18 years old — was attending school 2 days a week and also attending a nearby Adult Development Center 3 days a week. This was part of his Individualized Education Program (IEP) that had been worked on by his high school. Bryce’s work placement at the Adult Development Center was…

At 20 years old, Trystan was in incredible pain. He had outgrown his wheelchair, and this was not only uncomfortable, but the odd position the chair forced him into caused his bone to move out of its hip socket. Trystan found only momentary relief from the pain when he was standing, but because Trystan has cerebral palsy, his muscles would not allow him to get himself into a standing position. To stand up, two people…

By the time Mary requested the implantation of a neurostimulation device to treat her excruciating occipital and trigeminal nerve pain, she had tried every possible treatment and drug—including opioids—to deal with her debilitating condition. Nothing had worked, and the medications she took resulted in terrible side effects. Nearly incapacitated, Mary was forced to quit both her job and work on her Master’s degree, and effectively parenting her son was almost impossible. The neurostimulation device, recommended…

Quinton was diagnosed with ADHD and autism during preschool. Though he received special services to help him with his disabilities, he developed more challenging behavior in first grade. Seeking additional support for their son from the school, Quinton’s parents met with his school’s teachers and assistant principal to develop a behavioral intervention plan. Sadly, the plan was never implemented. Instead, the school’s special education teacher indicated that she needed to restrain Quinton to prevent his…